Citizen science in the Big Society

A key component of the coalition Government’s
agenda is the Big Society – an ambition to give people and
communities more power and responsibility so that they can play
their part in addressing the challenges faced by the UK. In
one important respect this approach has been championed by JNCC for
more than a decade.

The UK is probably one of the most densely
surveyed and recorded countries on the planet when it comes to
natural history. The vast majority of biological data available are
collected by volunteers. It is estimated that 3-4 million
observations are made in the UK each year, by interested
naturalists organised in both local and national schemes. The
largest participation is in bird monitoring. JNCC works in
partnership with the British Trust for Ornithology to monitor the
state of bird populations throughout the UK, which would cost
ten times more if these data were not collected by an army of
dedicated volunteers.

The sources of biological data
include large scale public participation events such as
RSPB’s Big Garden Bird Watch, a more detailed survey of specific
locations as well as an enormous number of more casual
observations. The casual observations are generally collated
through organised national recording schemes and local record
centres. All of these data are then published through the
National Biodiversity Network (NBN)
Gateway alongside professional survey data.

JNCC has a key role in providing technical
leadership and supporting the day to day running of the Gateway on
behalf of the NBN Trust. Increasingly, JNCC is also helping to link
this grassroots data with UK and global conservation
decision-making.

“We’ve over 55 million records available via
the NBN Gateway collected by a dedicated army of volunteers. This
harnessing of citizen science helps improve nature conservation in
the UK by providing much stronger evidence on which to base
strategies and decisions,” explained JNCC’s Head of Data Services
Steve Wilkinson.

Many of the data providers have also approved
the publication of their data through a global website - the
Global Biodiversity Information Facility
(GBIF). The UK now contributes 25 million records through this
facility – making it one of the largest contributors in the
world.

This approach of publishing a wide range of
data sources via the NBN Gateway ensures maximum value and
encourages re-use of information at a UK scale and beyond. The
approach also fits with the Government’s open data agenda
‘data.gov.uk’.